As Abhishek prepares to become ‘the’ robber in his upcoming Players, he shares his quirky views on remakes and social networking sites

Brand new daddy, Abhishek, is gearing up for the release of Players. And while at it, the actor feels that remakes are more of a creative choice than just a trend. “Players is the official remake of Italian Job. The story is the same, but the screenplay is completely different because you have to make it for the Indian audience,” Abhishek said. “I don’t think there is any trend. We make a thousand films a year and, out of this, may be four or five are remakes. I think it is more of a creative choice than following a trend. When Abbas-Mustan saw Italian Job, they felt they want to make this for the Indian audience,” he added. Nowadays, social networking sites are becoming a prominent platform for actors and filmmakers for promoting their films, but Abhishek doesn’t seem to be in favour of it. “Social networking isn’t just for promotions. It is a platform to exchange ideas and interact with our fans. A little bit of promotion is fine but I don’t think promoting the whole film is advisable,” said the actor. Well AB baby, while we figure out your complicated equation with social networking site, we hope it works for your upcoming movie.

The two chicks are looking smokin’ hot in the promos of Players, but when it comes to conferring the ‘who’s looking sexier’ trophy, we think Bip’s wins, hands down!

Sonam is Goth, whereas Bipasha is glamorous. Sonam is funky, whereas Bipasha is chic…the differences are conspicuous even though the two are predominantly dressed in black in Players. Seen mostly in blingy dresses and metallic accessories, Sonam does her thing in a funky Goth avatar – that doesn’t essentially mean all-black, and the actor has been experimenting with a lot of other dark colours as well, sporting blue nail paint, ankle-length boots, bright red lipstick and a funky attitude with absolute élan. We have to give Sonam’s sister Rhea Kapoor all the credit for these unconventional style ideas. But as they say, some foibles can’t be hidden, however hard you try. Sonam’s abysmal grooving and acting skills are not helping much in motivating us to go and watch the movie. Bips, on the other hand, is the total style diva who’s comfortably sashaying around in outfits with plunging necklines and sexy slits. She carries them off perfectly and, despite her not-very-good dancing ability, the Bong babe is grabbing eyeballs with her attitude and confidence. A heady mix of Goth and glamour, Players scores decent points in the style area, but when it comes to other aspects of the movie, we would prefer waiting for the reviews and see if the gang does a satisfactory job on the remake of the classic Italian Job.

No doubt the actor has always been very nice and polite and at one point we thought he would sprout wings for his angelic behaviour, but we aren’t talking about that here; the actor wants to take flying lessons

After Shahid Kapoor and Kunal Kapoor, it’s Neil who has been bitten by the flying bug. It seems the actor got hooked on to this escapade when he had to shoot a crucial helicopter scene for his new film, Players. The kid got such a kick after wrapping up that shot that he decided he would take flying lessons, no matter what. The hunk has already started making enquiries and is all set to go an adventurous journey…in the skies. Now the one thing we can be sure about is that even if the remake of Italian Job fails to create an impact at the box office, it has influenced at last one person to do something new and interesting, outside the usual B-town ambit. So, as Neil chooses a new hobby, we think we should take a cue or two from the actor who gets all inspired to do something from reel life, in real life. We should try and do the same; at least that would alleviate the pain we undergo while watching a bad film. So bring it on – we are prepared to see Players! And all we can do is hope that it’s a good watch…then we can go flying with Neil…